In addition to fond personal recollections, many of those who took the stage alongside Peres’ Israeli-flag-draped coffin offered their visions of the peace that eluded the former president and prime minister. Peres died early Wednesday at the age of 93 after being hospitalized for a major stroke. [Read more…]

(JTA) – A columnist for Breitbart News attacked Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum, calling her a “Polish, Jewish, American elitist” and accusing her of having “global media contacts” in a discursive article that tried to link her to partisan Polish politics.

The gratuitous nod to Applebaum’s Jewishness came in a 1,400-word article published Tuesday titled “WaPo’s Anne Applebaum Embarks On Kremlin-Style Disinformation Offensive vs. the Anti-Globalist Right.” According to the story, Applebaum is “on the warpath against the rising populist forces doing electoral damage to her establishment friends and allies across the world.” [Read more…]

(JTA) – A senior activist in Britain’s Labour Party who is close to controversial party leader Jeremy Corbyn questioned why Holocaust Remembrance Day is only about Jews.

Jackie Walker also questioned the need for security at Jewish institutions, suggesting that anti-Semitism is not behind any attacks, during a workshop organized by the Jewish Labour Movement at the annual party conference on how to confront anti-Semitism and engage Jewish voters. [Read more…]

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will attend the funeral of former Israeli president Shimon Peres, but the chair of Israel’s Joint Arab List party said he will not attend.

Ayman Odeh said Thursday that he will not be going to the funeral the following morning, The Jerusalem Post reported. His party is the only one that did not issue a statement following Peres’ death early Wednesday morning, and no party representatives were scheduled to pay their respects at Peres’ coffin lying in state Thursday in front of the Knesset, according to the newspaper. [Read more…]

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, centre, leads a memorial service for former Israeli president Shimon Peres attended by some 40 diplomats at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Sept. 29, 2016.

(JTA) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he “had the privilege to benefit from his wisdom” at a memorial service for former Israeli president Shimon Peres at the world body’s headquarters in New York.

Ambassadors from more than 40 countries attended the memorial held by Israel’s UN mission on Thursday, a day after Peres died following a massive stroke. Among those on hand was U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power. [Read more…]

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, centre, flanked by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, left, and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein pays his respects at the coffin of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in front of the Israeli Parliament building in Jerusalem on Sept. 29, 2016. (Hadas Parushl/Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israeli citizens flocked to the Knesset to pay their final respects to the country’s ninth president Shimon Peres.

Peres body is lying in state at the Knesset all day Thursday, ahead of his funeral scheduled for Friday. Thousands of Israelis are expected to view the casket at the Knesset. [Read more…]

WASHINGTON (JTA) – U.S. President Obama announced he was heading to Jerusalem to attend Shimon Peres’ funeral and ordered flags flown at half-staff, a rare honour for foreign leaders.

In a proclamation late Wednesday, Obama said he ordered flags to fly at “half-staff at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions” through sunset Sept. 30. [Read more…]

The court was unanimous in its decision Wednesday against Olmert, who now must serve an additional eight months in prison for his involvement in the so-called Talansky affair. He was convicted of accepting the money from businessman Morris Talansky and using it for personal rather than political expenses. [Read more…]